Welcome back to Dark Corners Streaming.
To celebrate the 300th film of actor Kazuo Hasegawa,
Japanese studio Daiei decided to remake his 1935 film The Revenge of Yukinojo – directed by Teinsuke Kinugasa,
whose A Page of Madness we have reviewed.
Hasegawa would reprise the dual lead roles he had played 27 years earlier
as a Kabuki actor specialising in playing women and a cat burglar.
The project, now titled An Actor’s Revenge, was handed to director Kon Ichikawa,
who initially had little interest in the old-fashioned story
and was trying to find ways of making it more believable when he and his screenwriter wife, Natto Wada,
realised that leaning into the melodrama would allow them make something knowingly artificial and borderline experimental.
That aim is aided by the film’s subject matter of the female impersonator seeking revenge;
all female roles in Kabuki are played by men,
we know this, but we buy into the conceit
and so we buy into the artificiality of the film,
which frequently references the stylisation of Kabuki acting and sets,
but also uses silent film technique
and impossible lighting changes.
One minute the screen becomes a Kabuki stage the next it present social commentary in an Eisensteinian montage
it even references horror.
We accept the 55 year old Hasegawa playing a much younger man who dominates every fight
and is the object of furious desire to two much younger women,
Ichikawa heightening the absurdity with florid dialogue and a lush romantic score.
Elsewhere the score slides into Jazz
and the tone becomes more deliberately comic.
This is Robin Hood thief, Yamitaro, also played by Hasegawa,
here complimenting himself.
The thieves who wend in an out of the story act as commentators on events telling us what’s going on,
and poking subtle fun at the conventions of melodrama.
But if An Actor’s Revenge is a stunning exercise in colour, lighting
and such style that even pulling a rope becomes art then the performances keep it engaging.
Hasegawa creates a pair of very different characters, here flirting with each other
able to balance Ichikawa’s desire for overt melodrama,
with more subtle moments and genuine emotion.
And mention must be made of Fujiko Yamamoto as Ohatsu
another of thieves and perhaps the most enjoyable character.
For all its tongue in cheek humour,
and self-conscious style,
An Actor’s Revenge still convinces as a revenge drama.
Embrace it for what it is, and all it is, and An Actor’s Revenge is a vastly entertaining film.
It’s available to stream on BFI player and Amazon Prime.
Thanks for watching. Are you a fan of this film?
What actors would you like to see reprise early roles in later life?
Let us know in the comments below.